The Family Business
by CoffeyJoe
Summary: Jaune wasn't born into wealth or into a family of warriors, but he was born into the criminal underworld. Still, that never stopped him from wanting to achieve his dream of being a huntsman. With the skills of a thief, the mind of a hunter, and a heart of gold how will our fair hero fare among the hunters of Beacon. That is, if they don't discover who his parents are first.
1. The Start of Something Good

**Another story attempt that has interested me just from its concept. I'd appreciate some reviews on this one as well since I have a better idea of what I want from this one.**

0-0-0-0

Jaune narrowly dodged another swipe from the grey and black cane his foe wielded. As it came back around for another sweep the blonde boy blocked it with the shaft of his own cane weapon, he pulled down on his weapon, hooking the handle of his opponent's weapon, and whipped it away. Though disarmed, his opponent did not let up and instead punched Jaune straight in the jaw.

While his aura cushioned the blow, he was hit with enough force to temporarily rattle his head. The figure across dove for his lost weapon and only barely managed to get a grip on its curved handle before Jaune launched a vicious kick into his face. The figure, not willing to throw in the towel yet, shook his head and parried a wicked stab from Jaune's own weapon and instead sent the direction of force so that it drew the boy across him.

The young man snarled and attempted to elbow his opponent as he passed but was once again spun on his heels by a block that swung him around. Even though Jaune was having issues keeping up he was determined to win this, so, as he drew farther away, he attempted a roundhouse into the figures temple. His enemy ducked underneath it and closed the distance between the two to throw a handful of what appeared to be red dust into Jaune's eyes.

The blonde warrior coughed and sputtered as his eyes burned. Temporarily blinded, the opponent headbutted the young man sending him sprawling onto his back in head-ringing pain. The figure laughed and placed the barrel of his cane directly between the eyes of the now-recovering huntsman, he had lost and was at the mercy of this man. Roman Torchwick cackled once more as he eyed his downed enemy, the king of crime in Vale smiled widely as he lorded over the boy.

"Nice try kid, but you're gonna need to be a lot faster to pull a fast one of over me." Roman smirked before he flipped his cane and extended its hook to Jaune who took it with a sigh. "Still though, you've gotten a lot better, I think I can tell your mom that you're good to go."

Jaune turned up at his uncle in surprise. "R-Really Uncle? B-But, you said if I didn't win then I'd be S.O.L?"

The master thief chuckled heartily. "Well, criminals lie all the time right kid? Anyways, what kind of uncle would I be if I denied you your dream."

Jaune smiled enthusiastically with enough brightness that Roman mock winced at its innocence. He could feel his own rotten soul actually feeling _proud_ for a moment there! Despite his nephew's disposition, he threw an arm around the blonde boy and laughed again.

"Well then, I think to celebrate your success I should, as you irresponsible uncle, take you into Vale for some drinks, maybe a few illegal substances, and finish off with some hook- homework! Some practical homework and training exercises!" Jaune looked up quizzically at his uncle who had begun to sweat profusely.

Roman's smiled grew incredibly strained and he swallowed hard. "N-Neo, so, ugh, how long have you been watching?"

He was answered with a boot to his ass that sent him sprawling onto the floor. Suddenly, Jaune could feel a pair of gloved hands wrap around his neck and pull him into a warm hug. Craning his head back, Jaune could see a smirking face with a pair of mismatched brown and pink eyes that coincided with her hair color; Neopolitan, one of, if not the most, deadliest criminals to ever grace Vale's grimy underworld stared right into his eyes.

"Hey mom, so, how long were you there for?" Jaune asked, choosing to ignore his groaning uncle. His mom just gave a hushed sigh and ruffled his hair as she mouthed a few words for him.

" _Honey, promise me that, no matter how long you live, you'll never take your dumbass uncle's advice._ " she said, cocking an eyebrow at said uncle who scoffed as he read her lips.

Jaune chuckled and pulled her into his own hug. "I promise mom, you know that I think Uncle Roman is a bad influence."

"Hey kid what the h-"

"Anyways, uncle said I passed my combat test so does that mean...?" Neo dropped her smirk and sighed, tapping her head against her son's, before she looked up and smiled sadly at him.

" _I always knew you leave the roost at some point kiddo, your sisters did and look at them now. I just wish you had chosen a more... agreeable line of work._ " Jaune sighed, perhaps just a little dramatically, which caused her to smile.

"Mooom, we've been over this! My one true dream is to become a huntsman and fight evil!" The young huntsman could almost feel the palpable eyeroll his uncle no doubt gave at that, but his heterochromiatic mother just sighed and gave him a small kiss.

" _I know sweetheart, I know, but if you ever end up running afoul of your uncle's operations remember: Roman is weak to being kicked in the ass super hard!"_ She said silently, Roman gave a pained groan, whether from the earlier kick or the advice Jaune did not know, and his mom rolled her eyes.

Jaune laughed sweetly. "I will mom, I will. Anyways, is dad back yet?"

Neopolitan smiled with faux exasperation and nodded. " _In the kitchen, where else would you find him?_ "

"Thanks mom, I'm gonna go tell him the good news!" Jaune exclaimed happily as he rushed out of the mansion's underground training ring. Roman half-limped over to his adopted daughter and cracked a smile.

"Well, you _did_ have 8 kids, so I guess it's just probability that one of them would be a pain in the ass." Roman chuckled, lighting one of his cigars. Neo laughed quietly and promptly kicked her dad even harder in the ass...

0-0-0-0

"So kiddo, your mom tells me you passed the test that your uncle gave." One Broderick Arc laughed, one hand firmly grasped around a beer and the other ruffling his son's hair. "Guess that means my sweet little golden noodle is gonna become a huntsman!"

Jaune blushed, more than a little embarrassed, at the nick name. "Daaad, I told you not to call me that anymore."

"Oh come on son, to this old fart it seems only a few days ago I was tucking you into bed and telling you stories of my exploits." his father sniffed the air as his eyes filled with tears of pride. "And now just look at you! It's- It's too much for me!"

Broderick Arc, skilled huntsman and slayer of evil, cried a near-literal fountain of tears as he embraced his son with a crushing grip. Jaune, for his part, tried to stay conscious as his dad wailed about his little boy growing up to be like his old man.

This went on for nearly a minute before his mom came in and physically pried them apart, where she then took Jaune's replacement as crush dummy as Jaune's father cried to his darling wife about their kids. Neo bore it all without complaint save for an overly-dramatic eye roll (it _has_ to run in the family) and a hand that waved for Jaune to pack his stuff.

Jaune walked through the expansive mansion his family owned to get to his room. Every once in awhile he'd see some maid or other servant cleaning or cooking and he'd wave to them and they'd wish him good luck in turn. Passing the now-empty rooms of his sisters, who were all busy being assassins, or executives, or hackers or something, and opening the door to his he took it in for one last time.

His room was decked out in posters and album covers of classic rock and alternative bands that almost took up the entirety of the purple walls. Stepping over a small pile of dirty clothes, Jaune picked out his duffel bag and backpack from his closet and began to load clean clothes, his toiletries, some paperwork, a few fake ids, some dust crystals and powder, and a few other odds and ends.

 _Always best to be prepared, right Jaune?_ he thought, remembering his grandpa's advice from years ago. Uncle Torchwick would handle the paperwork, and, if nothing else, he'd at least have a smooth entry into Beacon. Jaune sighed, not unhappily, and thought about everything that had happened...

His mom and uncle had worked together to be a couple of... unsavory folk who had built a criminal empire across Vale and had extended operations into other kingdoms. His dad had been a reckless huntsman who wound up in the wrong place and wrong time and just happened to cross his mom and Uncle Torchwick. The two fought and at some point dad had let them get away so he could fight them later. Fast forward a few times and his mom and dad just kinda... hit it off in what Jaune assumed was a very, very interesting adventure.

The two had a boatload of kids, he and seven sisters, and now were, more-or-less, stay-at-home bad asses for their kids. However, every baby bird has to learn to fly and Jaune's sisters had took to the air like true hawks. Corbin, the oldest, had become a rather ruthless CEO of an accounting firm located in Atlas and acted as the Schnee Family's personal accounting company. Corbin had a tendency to spoil Jaune, as the cool big sister should, and he couldn't count how much stuff had come from "Clemmons LLC". Mindy and Rowena, the twins, picked up their mom's more, how you say, ruthless habits and had become international hitmen (or hitwomen?) operating under any number of "nom de guerre".

Jolanda was currently some kind of lead hacker for one of those "let's save the world by being nerds" hacker groups that accounted for any number of cyber crimes. Bruna did... something? To be honest he wasn't quite sure what she did. Chryssa and Olivia were running a sort of back-alley law firm for shady businesses and select individuals who needed guarantees that they would be indicted or imprisoned for something.

And then there was Jaune, subsequent "Golden Noodle" of the family, who had wanted to emulate the coolness of his dad with the swagger of his uncle. His mom and other family had been pretty cool about it surprisingly, I mean, the rest of Neo's kids were doing illegal trades that could get them _executed_ in a few provinces so what was having one kid that fought Grimm?

So, at age ten, Roman gifted his nephew a black, metal cane with a single golden band right after the curved handle ended. Taking inspiration from his own weapon, Melodic Cudgel, Roman fashioned the cane to have a grappling hook handle and also have the end of it act as a flamethrower. Jaune had dubbed the weapon as "Black Matchstick".

Training was, well, intense to say the least. His mother, while supportive, didn't want her baby unprepared so she set about educating her son in every possible skillset one could need as a huntsman: acrobatics, hand-to-hand, perception, reflexes, dust usage, technique, bartitsu, forgery, thievery, stealth, charm, etc etc. Of course, Jaune took to some of the skills more readily than the others, but his whole family had come out to help him achieve his dream. With Roman cooking up what was probably a tear-jerking story for his nephew's profile Jaune finished packing and fiddled with his cane.

 _This is it, it's really happening. All my fantasies of being one of those "dashing rogue" types might finally come true, and who knows, maybe I'll get a sexy sidekick as Uncle always used to say._ Jaune chuckled to himself before gathering up his supplies and looking at himself in the mirror. An expensive black wool coat that was designed to handle small caliber rounds, a designer grey T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and his lucky sneakers was all he needed to look the part. He was going to do it, he was going to be a huntsman and change the world.

As he neared the kitchen he caught a glimpse of his family sitting around the marble island nearly whispering to eachother-

"Roman, what _do_ you know about her?" he could hear his dad ask.

"I- Not really anything at the moment but I'm having my best crew work on it right now." he could listened to his uncle speak. "She doesn't seem interested in me personally, so she hasn't really been looking into us that bad. I think, if we keep a low profile, she'll leave the kids alone at the very least. So let's keep your marriage on the hush-hush ok?"

His mom must've said something because, after a moment, he could hear his dad hum in agreement. "Well, Jaune will be undeniably safe at Beacon. Ozpin has got that place locked down like a steel vault, so I'm not too worried. And the others are in far off places so I'm not too worried either, but still, we should probably keep a backup ready in case we need to make a hasty escape."

"Agreed, I'll jump out the moment I can." his uncle responded before stopping abruptly as Jaune decided to knock on the door.

"I-Is this a bad time uncle?"

"What? No, no kid just a little bit of a business venture I'm heading into. Nothing your dashing uncle can't handle really." Roman said, cutting a pose like he was some charismatic bad boy from one of Corbin's trashy romance novels. "Anyways, your profile is all set up and has been entered into the Beacon mainframe."

"S-So, I I'm in what you're trying to say!?" Jaune cried enthusiastically. His uncle cringed again but his parents sent a look between eachother and chuckled quietly to themselves.

"Geez kid, yeah you're in. Don't be opening up the water works like your dear old dad over there." Roman said, looking at Brody only to find him tearing up. "Wha-? Dammit Brody I was kidding, don't _actually_ start crying again!"

The two argued in what would seem to an outsider to be a comical fashion, with his father trying to argue while also very obviously choking back tears and Roman's exasperation at the fact this guy married his only daughter. Jaune chuckled and went over to hug his mom who brought him in with strength you wouldn't think a 4 foot woman would have.

" _Remember you family's advice Jaune._ " she said, and while her eyes were serious she had a playful smile on her face.

"I know mom: All you need is a little confidence, friends are just enemies you haven't made yet, there is always someone who's a sucker, and there's no need to be nice on your fist day!" Jaune finished proudly, Neo smiled wider and pulled her baby boy into another bone-crushing hug.

" _Be safe sweetheart, if you die I'll drag you back here and ground you until the end of time._ "

Jaune chuckled a little. "Of course mom, I'll be counting on it."

Jaune was caught from behind by yet _another_ bone-crushing hug as his father wailed incoherently about girls or good luck or something like that...

0-0-0-0

Oh lord, bullheads.

It didn't take very long for Jaune to find out he didn't like flying in bullheads too much. The altitude, the pressure, the way everything just sways beneath your feet made his stomach turn and his head run in circles. He sat, hunched over, by the trash can in the ship in case he had a repeat of the accident he had just gone through (he'd have to buy that girl new shoes) before finally, and with the grace of god above, it landed at Beacon Academy.

When the doors open it wasn't a surprise that Jaune was the first one jetting out of there. He fell to his knees and praised the solid ground beneath him, may the gods grant him many years of flat surface to come. People brushed by him with both confused and annoyed stares before he finally got up and started following the crowd of people towards what he assumed was the lecture hall.

Along the way he thought he heard some kind of commotion coming from the courtyard to his left. _Hmm, what would Uncle do?_ So Jaune went to go investigate and, with any luck, he'd find something to steal while everyone over there was distracted. Peeking around some bushes, he saw a pale girl thoroughly chewing out some black-haired kid who must've knocked over he luggage apparent by the scattered suitcases.

It was then that something caught Jaune's eye. One of the cases was open slightly, and in it, he could see what looked to be the mostly finely cut dust crystals he'd ever laid eyes on. The suitcase's logo said everything he needed to know; the Schnee family was notorious for their dust and it seems that this girl had been given a little sample. She wouldn't miss one lousy dust crystal right? At this cut he could only imagine the uses for it, with such purity the thing had to pack a wallop and he figured he could use the extra edge.

He crept over to the cases, hoping the two were too engrossed in their argument to notice him. And, in one fluid motion, he kneeled down and snatched up one of the crystals from the edge of the case before clicking it shut. He sidled up behind the two and coughed to get their attention, the pale girl whirled around with a ferocity he had only seen once in his mom when his dad had forgotten their anniversary.

"Can I help you-" she stopped when she saw the case in his hands. "Wha- Thief! Hand that back right now!"

Jaune winced at her tone. "I-I only came to give it back to you, i-it's not safe to keep dust lying around you know."

"You think I don't know that! I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, I think I know my dust." She huffed indignantly before looking down at the still prone girl. "Well, at least you have more tact than _this_ buffoon."

She sniffed the air and carted away her things, leaving the two other freshman to awkwardly fill in the space. Jaune, finally realizing the girl was still on the ground, did what his uncle would always do and offered the end of his cane to her.

"Oh, thanks a lot." the girl, who was apparently wearing some kind of red corset-hood combo thing, shivered slightly. "I thought she was about to flay us both alive for a minute there."

Jaune chuckled before extending a hand out to her. "My name's Jaune, I just got here for the freshman year."

"Oh, Ruby Rose I'm a freshman same as you!" she chirped cheerfully. "Wanna go to the lecture hall together?"

Jaune smiled happily. _Yes! My first friend!_ "I'd love that Ruby."

"Cool! I see you got a cane there! Does it transform? My weapon does, her name is Crescent Rose and she's a..."

The two began to leave the courtyard, with Ruby talking about her weapon, but Jaune couldn't get over the feeling of a pair of eyes digging into his back...

The walk to the lecture hall was just fine, the two had been talking and getting to know one another through the trip and it had been surprisingly lax. Not at all like the awkward cringe-fest he had imagine making new friends was like.

"..And that's why my mom says strangers are just enemies you haven't made yet!" Jaune said happily, oblivious to Ruby's shocked face.

"Weiss isn't my enemy!" she denied fervently.

Jaune just shrugged. "Well you _were_ worried she was about to eat you alive back there so..."

"I-I, n-no that wasn't what I- you know what Jaune Arc!" she stammered, embarrassed at the jab. "Whatever, we're here anyway."

Jaune laughed and ruffled her hair which only got her more worked up before a familiar blonde girl came walking over to them.

"Hey Rubes! Over here!" she said, waving her arm as she came over.

"Yang! Check out this guy I just met!" Ruby waved back. Jaune was having trouble identifying who she was, he could've sworn that he had seen her somewhere before. Wait, was it-

"Sup! My name's Yang Xiao Lo-"

"Let me buy you new shoes!" Jaune blurted out, having gone stiff as a statue. Ruby and Yang looked taken aback and an awkward silence descended on their little group.

"W-Well, I think we should at least get to know eachother first." Yang laughed, with only a little bit of force.

"N-No, one the bullhead I just kinda- well, you see, I get kinda airsick and..." He trailed off, not quite sure how to handle this. As another long silence descended down upon the three, Jaune silently reached into his wallet and pulled out 300 lien and threw it at her before walking away just a little too robotically.

 _Real cool dipshit, you couldn't even work some cheesy one-liner in there?_ Jaune berated himself for his own stupidity. He decided to place himself squarely behind a couple of chattering freshmen, well, the girl was chattering away but the other seemed rather impassive. The girl was ginger and wore a pink skirt while her green-garbed friend had a small highlight of pink going through his ponytailed hair.

"So Renny, what do you think we'll be doing for initiation! Oooh! I hope we get to wrestle Ursa, wouldn't that be fun." The ginger girl crowed to her friend -Renny was it?- who sighed slightly and shook his head.

"I don't think so Nora, they're probably going to use it as an excuse to make teams." Renny said, shrugging his shoulder slightly.

"Oh! That's makes so much sense! Well then, we'll have to be extra extra super duper sure we get on the same team!" Nora cheered, pumping a fist into the air and garnering some annoyed looks from the people around her.

 _Please, let the madness end_ Jaune groaned in his own mind, face looking a little despondent. "Nora" turned around, apparently bored with talking to her companion, and her eyes landed smack dab on Jaune.

"Hello! You're a first-year too right?" she called out, waving at him and smiling brightly. "My name's Nora, and this is my friend Renny-bear!"

 _Ugh, ok I guess. My mom's name is just a misspelled ice cream so who am I to judge?_ Renny-bear closed his eyes before opening them and regarding Jaune with an apologetic look.

"It's Lie Ren actually, nice to meet you...?" he trailed off with the question.

 _Ugh, quick! What would uncle do?_

 _..._

Yeah, lying to or silencing Nora and Ren probably wouldn't work. So he supposed he'd just need to go in head-first with these people-

"Jaune. Jaune Arc, I'm training to become a huntsman." he smiled, extending a hand which Nora took in a crushing grip.

 _Oh dear god, I thought dad was bad._ Ren, seeing the look on Jaune's face, tapped Nora's wrist and she quickly dropped his bruised hand with a sheepish smile.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry Jaune-y, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's cool Nora, don't worry about it." well, she seemed nice at the very least. Maybe a couple bullets short of a magazine but a very nice girl, and her friend seemed to act as her... mediator? Holder?

"I don't suppose you know when this is suppose to be under way do you?" Ren asked, gesturing to the still-empty stage. He had a point too, it had been almost 10 minutes and still no one besides a few upperclassmen were here.

"Afraid not, but it has to be soon right? They can't keep us locked up in here forever." Ren cracked a small smile, seemingly reminiscing, before, as if on cue, the lights behind them dimmed and the stage lights brightened.

From right stage an elderly man with silver hair walked to the center where a microphone stood. He took a moment to scan the crowd of young faces, tap the microphone, generating some awful feedback, before clearing his throat.'

"Students, my name is Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy..."

0-0-0-0

"So, ugh, was he kinda weird or was it just me?" Nora asked as the three headed into the ballroom where they were supposed to be sleeping. Jaune was inclined to agree with her, the headmaster's speech had not been very inspiring. True, Jaune did not know much about the art of speech, but he assumed that you weren't supposed to make vague allusions to the world ending or everyone dying.

They neared the locker rooms and Nora broke off to go change with the girls, meanwhile Ren and Jaune headed into the men's locker rooms. They'd finished dinner and were expected to get prepared for sleep as initiation, the locker rooms themselves were well-kept and spacious even with all the men running around.

Over the joking and jeers Ren turned to regard his newfound friend. They'd hit it off rather well, dinner was mostly just keeping Nora away from eating everything while they talked for a bit. They'd asked eachother about their lives and the like, so Jaune stuck to the story Uncle Roman told him which was he was the only male child of a now widowed huntsman. Ren and Nora were both orphans attending a combat school in Mistral before arriving here, but they were nice people and were pretty easy to get along with.

"What do you think initiation will be tomorrow?" Jaune asked his friend, who seemed to ponder that for a moment.

"I imagine some sort of practical team exercise, maybe an obstacle course or assignment from the teachers." Jaune hummed in agreement, it made sense after all. Hunters worked in teams of 4, so it made sense they'd want to get together with their team as soon as possible.

"Well, here's hoping." Jaune said, changing into his pajamas (a set of extremely comfy, and expensive, pajama pants and night shirt) while ren seemed to be more comfortable in a tank top and green shorts.

The assembled kids filed into the massive room and promptly decided their territory like this was some kind of nature documentary. It was kinda funny, with only a few exceptions like Nora, the room was almost perfectly divided between male and female sides. Jaune caught Ruby and Yang talking about something or other, and when Ruby caught him looking he froze and just turned back to Nora who was talking about some dream or another.

"You guys up for cards?" Jaune asked, pulling out a strangely designed deck of cards that Nora began to "ooh" at. They were a gift from his dad, the entire deck was colored and designed to resemble a sort of macabre, "skull-and-crossbones" look.

"Sure, I love go fish, and war, and spoons, and..." Nora continued on, listing all her favorite card games while Jaune just dealt Ren in for a game of bullshit. Later that night, Jaune was plagued by nightmares in which he seemed to be falling endlessly into a cavernous darkness.

Weird...


	2. Ballroom Blitz

Jaune fiddled with his cane as he stared at himself in the locker's mirror. Frankly, he looked like shit. He didn't get enough sleep last night, and of course that always made for a bad appearance. Gods, if his uncle could see him right now he might just keel over in how dreadful he looked. Baggy eyes that were slightly bloodshot, and his expensive clothes all disheveled from a lack of care when they were put on.

Jaune smacked himself away and closed the locker door, he just needed a pick-me-up breakfast and he'd be in shape to tackle this initiation. Striding through the locker room and waving a hello at Nora and Ren who were getting ready, he bumped into one of the girls who was talking with her friend.

"Oh sorry about that-"

"Watch where you're going you oaf!" Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company, screeched at him with a look that could freeze ice cubes. "Oh, it's you again is it thief?"

"Hey- I didn't steal anything from you!" Jaune said, hoping he had gotten better at lying. "I was trying to be a good Samaritan but I see now it was wasted on you."

Jaune folded his arms and began to promptly walk pas the gorgeous redhead before he stopped. And realized there was a gorgeous redhead who was smiling and giggling at him, which was a first in many aspects of his life.

"Well hello there gorgeous." Jaune winked, channeling his best dashing rogue impression. _Remember what dad always told you about flirting with girls!_ "I saw you smiling and I couldn't help but wonder what was so funny?"

"Nice to meet, I'm Pyrrha Nikos." she said giggling slightly.

"Jaune Arc, so where are you from?" He asked, it was always good to get some foreground started or so his dad said. However, it seemed to actually stun Pyrrha a little when he said that. Jaune tried to hide his rising panic at the fact he may have insulted her before he was saved by Weiss-

"You dolt! That's Pyrrha. Nikos." She said with the most unbelievable expression.

"Oh... right, silly me." Jaune laughed weakly, hands up in submission. Oh boy, this was not that good.

"Winner of the Mistral Tournament four consecutive times!" Weiss stamped her foot.

"Right! Right! So, ugh, good job out there tiger...?" Jaune probed weakly, throwing up some finger guns for good measure. Weiss looked like she was about to have a coronary out of sheer anger while it seemed like Pyrrha was holding in a laugh and failing.

"You complete dolt! She was on the Pumpkin Pete's cereal box for the last 7 months!" That finally got some bells ringing as Jaune snapped his fingers.

"That's right! Good picture by the way, really brings out the cereal mascot in you." Pyrrha giggled slightly before she was dragged away by Weiss with an indignant huff.

"Oh-ugh, I guess I'll be seeing you an initiation Jaune!" Pyrrha said, walking out of the door.

"Yeah, you too I guess." Jaune said quietly, waving weakly at her retreating form. He was caught off guard by the sudden force thrown into his back, and as he whirled around he found a mischievously grinning face smiling at him.

"So, that your girlfriend...?" Nora trailed off, drawing out the word.

0-0-0-0

"Geez Jaune, you look like you slept well last night." Nora commented, poking Jaune's slightly sunken face. Jaune halfheartedly smacked her hand away with a groan.

"Yeah, what tipped you off." Jaune grumbled before shaking his head. "I just had a nightmare, nothing to worry about."

"Ooh! Want to hear my dream! I tell it to Ren all the time!" Nora exclaimed, shaking Ren who ate his pancakes with practiced skill.

"I'd strap yourself in..." Ren trailed off, still looking at his pancakes. As Nora recounted her, tortuously, long tale about how she beat up a bunch of beowolves that were made of pancakes. As Jaune began to tune her out, he gazed over the other students with a calculated gaze, his uncle often talked about examining the terrain and getting the lay of the land in the field, so that's what he was going to do.

When it came to the freshman of this year, he wasn't entirely sure if he stood out or was just another person in the crowd. He really hadn't _seen_ anyone fight or use their semblances, but they all got into Beacon (save for his unsavory entrance, but hey he could have made legitimately it if he wanted to!) with their skills as fighters. He supposed he'd have to go by appearances for now, but that didn't truly make things all that easier.

They were all geared up for initiation by now, so weapons and armor were on display which did make some folk stand out just out of sheer creativity. There was that boy in the back with what appeared to be some sort of dust-chainsaw hybrid, there was the ginger in the fanciful silver armor who was bragging about something from across the way, and then of course there was Ruby and her oversized scythe-gun. Even Pyrrha and Weiss seemed to have their own high tech weapons that honestly made Jaune feel just a tad under dressed for the occasion. Ruby caught his eye and waved to her which he waved back, but did not go over to talk to her as her sister was sitting right there talking to some girl in a bow who also seemed to be ignoring her.

Ruby, now there was an interesting character. Even disregarding their unfortunate meeting, if she used her "Crescent Rose" as her primary weapon then she had to be good with it. Now, of course, he wasn't exactly a huge weapons nerd like Ruby, but he would hazard to guess that a scythe is not the best weapon to wield in terms of ease of use. Combining that with a long-range weapon like a sniper rifle and you get a fighting style that would be sure to raise eyebrows.

Furthermore, and even though he still found it awkward to be near her, Yang obviously had skills in what appeared to be a set of yellow gauntlets. If they were anything like his dad's then he was sure they had some kind of weapon built into them, so she was obviously pretty skilled as well. Perhaps it wouldn't matter so much if this was more of a teamwork exercise than a combat one like he read that Vacuo had. If, instead of being pitted against eachother in sparring matches, they would instead be sent on a mission in teams then Jaune would have to worry less about how strong these people were.

A bell tolled through the cafeteria marking the ending of breakfast and cutting off Nora's tale with a grumpy whine. It was time to assemble at the cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest, so the procession of students slowly filed out the door at the behest of teachers and upperclassmen volunteers to board bullheads to their journey.

Oh, joy...

0-0-0-0

Whatever you could say about a forest full of humanity's most hated foes, the Emerald Forest certainly was beautiful. The wind whipped the unfortunate souls who had been placed on these sort of square pads as a starting line for the initiation. And there, swishing his mug of coffee and looking over the forest, was Headmaster Ozpin who stood slightly behind Professor Goodwitch as she tapped on her scroll.

Apparently finished she closed it and regarded the students with that hawk-like gaze. "Students, today marks your first chance to make an impression here at Beacon Academy."

Jaune could feel his fellow students shift nervously, an air of apprehension hanging over them so thickly it was a wonder it hadn't attracted a Grimm.

"Your task is to venture into the Emerald Forest and retrieve a singular artifact for yourself." Goodwitch continued, adjusting her glasses. "The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the rest of the year. The artifacts are in the north part of the forest, just behind some old ruins near a large canyon, you won't miss it."

Jaune could hear Ruby whine next to him which only grew more strained at what the blonde professor said next.

"Your teams will also be decided today as well, so make sure you can work together as a unit." she finished, lending control over to the headmaster who stepped up.

"Yes students, today marks your first day as hunters of Beacon Academy. I ask that you keep your wits about you, always take things slow and carefully, and trust those who you meet along the way. I wish you all good luck, any questions?"

A few students raised there hands, which he promptly ignored. "Very well then, you will be catapulted from your pads in a moment so I also wish you luck in formulating a landing strategy-"

He was cut off as the first student rocketed through the air with a resounding yelp. The form of the young girl twirling through the air even as another brunette boy was flung from his pad. Down the line the pads shot their occupants into the forest before Jaune could feel his own click beneath him, giving a thumbs up to the boy beside him he was suddenly soaring through the air.

In a way, it was almost... relaxing. That feeling of weightlessness accompanied by the scenic view around him, but it was slightly marginalized at the fact he had hit terminal velocity and was about to turn into paste before he pulled the trigger on Black Matchstick.

Fire roared out of the end giving him a better view of the upcoming trees which he took advantage of. Seeing an oncoming tree in the distance, Jaune fired his cane's handle as a grappling hook which caught around a branch and pulled him towards it. Descending into the thicket as he attempted to slow his speed, Jaune dodged branches and brambles with practiced ease. By the time he neared the branch he had landed on the forest floor in a sort of run that trailed off as he ended up right beneath his grappling hook which he called back.

It was only then that Jaune realized he was now kind of lost in an unfamiliar forest surrounded by Grimm. But no matter, he had a job to do and artifacts to find so he set off in what he assumed to be north, god willing. He wandered the lush forest for what seemed to be hours before he heard an almighty explosion from his right, in the distance he could see a plume of smoke rise overhead.

 _Well, it's better than nothing right?_

Jaune took off towards the explosion, cane in hand and smacking brush out of the way. In no time flat he found what appeared to be a battlefield, there were potholes and burns everywhere, and he could even see some disintegrating remains of some Grimm. However, the remaining beowolves were what really concerned him especially with how they finally took notice of Jaune.

The nearest one growled lowly before breaking into a four-legged run at him. Jaune pointed the end of Black Matchstick at the charging monster and released a large fireball that seemed to actually surprise the beast. With a muted roar the fire consumed the evil creature even as its comrades howled in rage and charged for the young huntsman, as one drew near it found the handle of a cane cracking into the side of its head.

Jaune swiped left and right, sending torrents and waves of fire to give himself to room to actually fight back. Against many foes like this the cane itself wasn't as useful as, say, a broadsword, but when he added some fire dust to it he could create slashes that burned searing gouges into the enemy. It was one of the most important parts of his training, he wielded Black Matchstick expertly as he hooked a beowolf on the neck only to send it tumbling into its friend. Even so, another horde descended upon him in a ravenous wave.

The beowolves swiped and gnashed at Jaune who managed to stay a head if only by a little bit. As three beowolves closed in on him simultaneously he released a wave of white hot fire that wiped out the charging force, but his enemies had numbers on their side and a replacement soon filed in after them. Jaune continued like that, pushing back large hordes with fire and beating the encroaching ones to death with the cane. After it was done he took in the fallen monsters around him for a moment, before speeding off back towards what he hoped north was.

It wasn't long before he thought he heard something. A cracking of branches and twigs that seemed to be passing in front of him, so, ducking into some bushes, Jaune waited for whatever it was to pass by. To his surprise it appeared to be Pyrrha, the redhead from earlier who was scanning her surroundings for enemies no doubt.

"Hey Pyrrha, you go a partner?" Jaune asked, slowly coming from his cover so as not to startle her. Pyrrha's surprised glance morphed into a smile as she shook her head.

"Not yet, but I guess we are now huh?" She asked. Jaune laughed before looking around.

"So, ugh, do you actually know where the relics are?" Pyrrha smiled a little sheepishly before answering.

"Well, ugh, I was hoping you did actually.."

0-0-0-0

After hours of grueling walking and fighting the pair of criminal and champion collapsed in gratitude before the relic spot. It seemed to be some ruins with a bunch of chess pieces inside, whatever it was Jaune was happy to have found it.

Walking inside, it appeared to be some chess pieces were already missing indicating that they were not first. The two grabbed a pair of golden rooks before they heard two pairs of feet stamping out of the woods. Ren and Nora came running out of the woods like hell itself was on their tail before they clambered over the stairs to reach them.

"Jaune! Yeah, I'm so happy I found you guys!" Nora cheered throwing her newfound friends into a crushing hug. Meanwhile, Ren seemed to try and catch his breath from sprinting all the way here.

"Nice to meet you, I am Pyrrha Nikos." Pyrrha said politely, smiling at Nora and Ren.

"Ooh, cool! I'm Nora Valkyrie and this is my best best bestest buddy Lie Ren!" Ren gave a resigned wave and sigh as he straightened himself.

"So, why were you two running like that?" Jaune asked, pointing at the Valkyrie.

"Ugh, why else?" she asked like it was the most obvious thing. "We were trying to outrun the deathstalker, duh!"

"The what now?" Jaune asked hoarsely before the almighty screech of the Grimm resounded from the nearby woods. Jaune made a sort of groaning whine in the back of his throat at the prospect of fighting such a thing and his partner didn't seem to enthused at the idea either.

"I know, and I am sorry." Ren said sadly as Jaune looked at him for some kind of explanation. Another screech announced that the four would be having guest soon and it was time to lay out the decorations.

"I vote for running, who's with me?" Jaune asked, to which Pyrrha and Ren raised their hands and Nora whined. The four took off into a sprint towards the extraction zone even as the massive monster broke through the thicket and clicked its anticipation for its next meal. Jaune and Nora fired explosive balls of fire and grenades at the creature even as the already horrid situation was accented by a massive nevermore overhead.

Jaune spied Ruby and Yang as well as Weiss and someone else going for the artifacts as the nevermore zeroed in on them. _No hard feelings, but we got issues enough as it is Ruby._

The four continued running with Pyrrha leading the pack even as the deathstalker closed in. Pyrrha stopped in front of the group and threw her hand wide as the rest of her team stopped in its tracks.

"It's no use we have to fight it, Jaune try to slow it down." Jaune nodded and began firing a barrage of fireballs at the beast's armored hide. "Nora, try to break through where you can. Ren, you come with me and we'll try to find an opening."

The team broke off with each member pounding at the tireless monster. Jaune's fireballs and torrent of flame scorching the white bone while Nora hammered away creating cracks and dents that seemed to agitate the creature more than anything. Pyrrha bit down her frustrations as her xiphos clanged off the seemingly impenetrable bone even as Ren had trouble of his own.

It was then that she noticed something, as the beast's tail came down to strike at Jaune who rolled away and cracked at it with his cane, she could see where the stinger ended and a small crevice that connected it to the bony protrusion. An idea came to her, perhaps if they focused less on breaking its armor and more on its soft spots they could take it down.

"Jaune! Keep its attention for now. Nora, I need you to hammer at the top of the tail." Nora nodded with maniac glee and began to swing at the deathstalker's tail. "Ren, you and I with focus on cutting off that thing."

Ren once again nodded and the team came up with their new attack plan. With Jaune keeping the bulk of the beast distracted and Nora giving them an opening the door agile hunters sliced again and again at the glowing stinger. Thick ichor would occasionally ooze out in dribbles before, on one savage strike, the stinger seemed to sag lower showing signs of a deep cut.

 _This is it_ Pyrrha though as she began to shout orders once more.

"Nora, when I give the signal pound it!" she shouted, moving in sync with Ren to deliver a pincer attack -no pun intended- on the damaged stinger causing it to fall off as the beast roared in agony. "Nora, now!"

Nora bounced high into the air with an explosion before slowing beginning to descend, hammer cocked at the ready. The stinger collapsed on an already cracked portion of the beast's head before Nora slammed down on it like a carnival game and pulled the trigger on her hammer. The pink explosion sent the oversized stinger into the Grimm's head causing the beast to let out one more defiant moan before it sagged lifelessly.

The team of four was left panting, exhausted, and perhaps just a little proud of their achievement. After a moment's pause the four began to slowly inch their way towards the extraction zone and what they hoped was several gallons of water...

0-0-0-0

"...Team CRDL, congratulations." Ozpin said, even as the students clapped. "Now, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie you all retrieved the golden rook pieces. So, I have decided to name you team NAVL (Navel) lead by Miss Nikos!"

There seemed to be a noticeable more amount of applause, cheers, and whistling from the crowd. Jaune smiled and nudged his partner, congratulating her on her new promotion, but as he did he noticed a kind of disappointment in her eyes that had him stopping. He sent a look to Ren who furrowed his brow and waved it off as something for later.

The newly christened Team NAVL left the stage as they were replaced by Ruby and her team. Apparently they had dealt with the nevermore using some kind of team attack that had been entirely improvised, so props to them! Ozpin had named the four Team RWBY lead by Ruby which had apparently rubbed Weiss the wrong way if that look was anything to go by. Good, in his short time of knowing her Jaune did not like that little brat very much.

Team RWBY returned to their seats next to them and Jaune whispered his congrats to his friend who smiled and accepted it all with a light blush. After the ceremony found the teams moving into their dorms, Jaune had just finished setting his alarm clock down before eyeing Ren who seemed to catch his gaze. The two exchanged some telepathic man talk before Ren jerked his head at the sullen redhead leader.

"Ugh, Pyr you alright?" Jaune asked, eye crinkling in concern.

"Wha-? Oh, yes I'm fine Jaune. Just a little nervous leading a team is all." Jaune sensed that perhaps it was a little more but opted to put a hand on her shoulder instead.

"Chill Pyrrha, we're your team and you're the boss, so we don't mind taking orders right guys?" Jaune asked to which Nora pumped a fist into the air and chanted "no!". Pyrrha finally smiled and seemingly relaxed as the four finished setting up their rooms and promptly collapsed on their beds in exhaustion. That night Jaune felt himself heat up as he slept, as if his skin was beginning to catch fire...

0-0-0-0

Roman fiddled with his cigar and idly wondered how the kid was doing. Despite appearances, the kid was really some of the only family he still had so if he died that'd be a real downer for him. He wasn't worried though, little brat was trained by the best and it showed, seriously, the kid had some skills if he was being honest. A light sniff brought him back into the harsh reality of his current situation.

"You have terrible taste in wine Roman." purred the sultry voice of the woman sitting across from him. Cinder Fall watched him carefully as she sipped that wine she detested oh so much. "I shouldn't be surprised though."

"Sorry about that, anyways what did you want." Roman asked calmly, or as calm as he could be, Neo hovered above the two just waiting for the signal in case something went wrong. "If you wanted good wine you have found it yourself."

"True, in all honesty I've come to ask you to ramp up your current operations." she said, swishing around the red liquid. "I need you to acquire more dust for our upcoming operations. The Fang needs more for their new base of operations.

"I'm already pushing it as it is, I'm not sure how much farther I can get with just robberies." Cinder seemed unimpressed by his rebuttal and sighed sadly.

"Honestly Roman, what reason do I have to keep you around if you can't even follow simple orders." She closed her eyes before opening them again. "How about a little incentive: Acquire more dust or a certain Beacon huntsman is going to be delivered to your house in a matchbox."

It was as if everything in the room froze. Roman's grip on his cane became crushing, and he could sense Neo draw her blade in a murderous haze, this goddamn bitch had the audacity to threaten his nephew? No way in hell, but even so they couldn't truly do anything at the moment. Instead, Roman's jaw pulsed with tension before he puffed his cigar and nodded curtly.

"Fine, it'll get done."

Cinder's smile was not friendly. "Good, and please, keep your pet on a leash..."


End file.
